So You Like to Play Games
by ShadowMoonSedai
Summary: Cira knew that she was meant for something more then what she had - she just had no idea what she what.


So You Like To Play Games  
  
_P1: A Common Nightmare_  
  
**Prologue- There is Only So Much a Girl Can Take  
  
**

"Takenouchi Shuzo, I said no."  
"But Kimiko..."

"No. You'll ruin your appetite. Mom made a dinner for after church, remember? No more Easter candy." The little boy pouted up at his older sister, but she patted his dark head and kissed his nose. "Go change into your church pants. If mom sees you in jeans, we'll both be screwed." He giggled as she guided him towards the door and out of her bedroom. "Hurry up!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" She shut the door behind him and leaned against it, sighing. She hated Sundays... she hated Easter Sunday especially. It wasn't the religious theme or anything like that, it was the constant stream of people and the stress of having to organize everything that pressed on her. She was only sixteen but, as the oldest, she was expected to do everything - or so it seemed to her.  
_Let's see... Aunt Anya is bringing that cassarole - mom's baking ham, mashed potatoes, and bread. Jei's family is bringing the plastic eggs for the little cousins' egg hunt and the candy for the baskets - baskets are hidden in the basement, under the stairs, next to the box of grandma's old books. Grandpa Lary and Poppi are coming early, while Grandma Chirly and Nana help after the service at church... who am I forgetting? _Kimiko dragged the fuzzy yellow sweater dress over her head and belted it with the silver chain she had gotten at a thrift shop- tiny silver links with a random placing of clear yellow stones. It matched the dress and had been bought solely as an accessory for the dress she wore only on Easter. Nothing more then that. _Xero's hidden the eggs we colored last night... gotta remember to tell the little kids NOT to eat them, especially if this service is as long as the one last year. _She pulled her dark hair into a quick ponytail and tied it with a ribbon. It wouldn't hold long without a hairtie, but all of hers had mysteriously gone missing. _Remember to ask Xero to buy me new ones- I know he used them to fix his science project after Cheerios got to it. _As if he had known he was being thought about it, there came a scratching at the door. She smiled gently and opened it, only to be bowled over by a large greyhound dog with a deep black coat. He licked her face happily and barked. "Cheer, you idiot! You'll get my dress dirty." She pushed him off and climbed to her feet, only to be greeted by a small chuckle. A chill raced down her spine and she made a face before turning towards the door. "Isaac."

"Still playing with monsters, Kimiko?" asked the lithe boy in her door. A cousin by marriage, Isaac saw no reason in giving Kimiko any privacy if her door was open - and more then once, he had opened it when it had been closed. She didn't like him.  
"Cheerios isn't so much a monster compared to _other_ creatures I know of," she said coolly. "Come on boy. Let's take you for a walk before church." She grabbed the blue collar that encircled the dog's neck and practically pulled him from her room. He fought against her, almost like he wanted to return to bite Isaac - having been kicked several times and taunted endlessly by him, Cheerios was no greater fan then Kimiko. "I know how you feel, boy. I wanna rip out his throat too, but he's my cousin... sort of." She slipped on her white sandals and clipped a leather leash to the dog's collar. "Let's go walk off some steam - no running though. These are my good shoes-!" Cheerios obliged and walked - at least until the end of the driveway. Then he yanked on the leash and began to drag her down the street. "Cheer, you nutcase! Stop!" He pulled her onto a wooded path just off the road that was used as a biking trail and a dog walk and their favorite path to take. "We're here! Stop!" He did and looked back at her, wagging his tail. She popped him playfully on the nose and shook her head. "No more of that, please? I'm gonna get blisters." He barked and pranced a little in his spot until she reached over and unclipped his collar. "Alright you, go on. I'll be right behind." He raced off, then raced back, then off again, circling around a tree before coming back once more and running around her. She laughed. "Cheerios, I think it's time we changed your food again." He barked and ran off the trail, crashing through some bushes and scaring a squirrel onto the path. Kimiko watched it dash onto the other side and up a tree to hide in the branches. She grinned and went after Cheerios, leaving the path behind her. "Cheerios... here Cheerios! Come on boy. Let's go home!" He barked somewhere nearby and she followed the sound to find him tangled in a bush. "You idiot dog..." She shook her head as he whined and twitched. "Alright, I'm coming." She knelt next to the bush and worked carefully to free hi, once paw at a time. He pulled himself out of the last vine and knocked her over, showering her in "doggie kisses". "Ah- bleh, Cheerios- you dork, don't you know makeup isn't good for dogs?" She pushed him off for the second time that day and looked him over quickly for anything deeper then a scratch. "Let's get you home, Cheer. We'll have to disinfect some of those cuts before you get sick." She clipped the leash back on and followed him back to the path - he knew where he was going, after all, so why drag _him_ when he did a fine job of dragging _her_. And she didn't mind, so long as it was a slow drag and not the fast We-gotta-get-there-NOW dragging he had been doing earlier. _Xero should be ready by the time we get there... he can go with Mom while I clean Cheerios. I'll drive myself there- that will give me a chance to make sure the table is set so we can **eat** right after church. Bread and grape juice at Communion won't be enough for people who skipped breakfast to make a bunny-shaped cake. _Cheerios began to tug harder and whined slightly. "Calm down, Cheer! We have time!" He pulled harder and she pulled back, causing the leash to strain, then snap. "Stupid piece of- Cheerios!" He broke into a run towards and she raced after him, waving the broken leash like a flag. "Cheerio- omph!" She collided with something quite solid and stumbled back, tripping over a root and sliding down a ditch by the path. As she lay dazed, something large and whining came over her and began to lick her face. "Oww... Cheerios, I hate you..." The dog continued to lick her face until she reached up weakly to push him away. "Go play in traffic, you stupid beast..." Slowly, very slowly, she pushed herself up and raised her hand to the back of her head. No blood, thankfully, but already a horrid bruise. And Cheerios was back, licking her face, whining, and otherwise asking, in dog, if she was okay. "I'm not getting to church at this rate. Cheerios, you are a _monster_."

"Hey! Are you okay?!" She blinked as three figures slid down the same slope she herself had fallen oh-so-gracefully on. Cheerios barked loudly as they approached, then lunged directly between the girl and the people, growling loudly. The one in the middle, a man with blonde hair and dressed in what Kimiko could have sworn was red armor (she put that idea off to what obviously was a concussion on her head) took a step back and drew a sword. It became clearly apparent that he meant to slay or subdue her dog, thinking it was a threat.

"Cheerios, down!" ordered Kimiko sharply, then winced and pressed her fingers to her forehead. "Get over here, stupid. _Now!_" The dog wasn't used to the angry edge in her voice and immediatly backed to her side. There he sat, still growling, but on a more restrained scale. "Good dog. Now stay." Kimiko gripped Cheerios' collar and between him and a tree, managed to pull herself to her feet. The ground dipped and her vision swam, but she kept a death grip on the tree. "I'm fine," she breathed. "Really." Red man sheathed his sword again and Cheerios barked loudly. "Cheer, _shut up!_" He whimpered and shrunk away from her, tail between his legs. His brown eyes looked up at her in a betrayed pain and she sighed, rubbing her temple. "Cheerios, come here, you great idiot. I didn't mean it like that." He squirmed over to her as she beckoned her finger and rolled onto his back with a loud whine, a sign of submission. "Oh, Cheer." Kimiko sighed and shook her head.

"Your pet obviously values you highly," stated another of the group, this time an elderly man in - of all colors - purple. Kimiko nodded slowly, silently, watching them closely as they approached. They formed a half circle - seven of them, six relatively human, the seventh, well, was close enough to human and for the sake of her aching head, Kimiko didn't puzzle out what he was exactly. "Are you sure you're all right?" The old man squinted at her and she began to nod again. A wave of nausea overcame her so fast that she forgot to hold onto to her tree and lost all balance. Her world swirled in a mottled crew of colors and then faded to bright blue. She blinked away the bleariness, but not the nausea didn't cease and roiled in her stomach like an internal storm. Now she _definitely_ didn't feel fine and was only slightly thankful that she hadn't had time for breakfast that morning or it would have been on display for all to see. She curled up on her side, clutching her stomach and gave a pained whimper. 

"Ow..." Cheerios was over her in an instant, licking her face and whining and nudging her to get up, but the pain was only growing worse, not less, and it was spreading through her like wildfire. _Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop makeitstopmakeitstop!_ Through the haze of sharp, piercing pain, she was vaguely aware of noise around her and someone laying a gentle hand around her forehead. _Help me please...._

__

She's on fire. She's much worse then 'fine'.

We'll have to take her back to the village. There's a doctor there... The noise faded away and with it... everything else.  
  



End file.
